Report: Nippon Ham Intends to Draft Otani

by Patrick Newman (Oct 25, 2012)

Aaaaaaaaaaaand we have our first bit of drama in Shohei Otani‘s journey to MLB. Quoted in Sanspo, Nippon Ham Fighters GM Masao Yamada has declared his intent to select Otani with his first pick in today’s (JST time) draft.

“Regarding Otani-kun, he’s made comments saying like to
go to a Major League team, but as a ball club we will follow through
with our intent to select the strongest player with our first pick. We
plan to select Otani-kun.”

note: the “kun” suffix is a name identifier; kind of like “san” for young men.

If Nippon Ham (or any other NPB team) drafts Otani, they will have
the right to sign him until the end of March 2013. The MLB and NPB
working agreement prohibits one league from signing players who are
under contract with a team from the other league, so at a minimum being
selected in the draft would delay Otani signing with an MLB club for
several months.

Why would Yamada pick Otani, despite his intent to sign with an MLB
club? Well, he’s within his rights to do so, since Otani announced his
MLB plans after declaring eligible for the NPB draft. Yamada must feel
that Otani’s upside is worth the signability risk. Maybe he thinks he
can talk him into signing. This move is not unprecedented; last year
Yamada selected Tomoyuki Sugano, the consensus top
college arm in the draft, who had let it be known that he would not sign
with anyone other than the Yomiuri Giants. Sugano didn’t even negotiate
with Nippon Ham and is back in the draft this year.